"This is preposterous!"

"This is politics."

"But why can't we just talk and maybe we can all reach a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Bhallaladeva pinched the bridge of his sharp nose and resisted the mighty urge to shake the fast arising frustrated drowsiness from his eyes as they all went again and again around the same point that they were discussing from the past three hours. 

Amarendra had had enough. He raised a hand stopping all chatter and turned towards his elder brother who he had observed, had been staring at his hapless Prime Minister, since the past ten minutes, looking like he was two seconds away from ripping the poor man's head off his neck.  

"Brother, how long do you think is the possibility of a war with Chittorgarh stretching on, according to our current military status?"

Bhallaladeva gave Bahubali a depressingly cool look before throwing one leg smugly over the other and fully stretching out his six feet three frame in that uncomfortable seat he was occupying since the past three hours. 

"With the normal troops, the cavalry and the infantry plus the added men from our allies from the south and the east, three months at most."

Some of the courtiers who weren't exactly the Eldest Prince's fans, rolled their eyes at his disinterested tone and bored look. He looked annoyingly cool while they all seemed to be frantic with worry at the varied possibilities of a full blown battle with one of the most powerful armies of the North. He couldn't bother to look even a least bit bothered. 

That man behaved with an outrageous arrogance, even in the presence of their King or maybe, especially in his presence. 

The Commander though, ignoring the several stink eyes he was getting, continued monotonously. 

"With the Kalkis and my elephant corps... one."

Amarendra paled slightly, thinking about his elder brother's specialised assassin squad and his beloved monstrous war elephants. He had been witness to the sheer massacre that only one group of those demonic pachyderms were capable of. And add to that, the Kalkis, notoriously named the Shadow Hunters by their enemies were perfectly suited to their moniker. They swooped in like a storm of shadows and left nothing but a deadly silence behind as the dust settled. 

If he allows his General to use his full force, without any restrictions, then the war may be over within a month, but Bhallaladev will not leave a single man standing at the opposite end. 

It will be total carnage. 

By the slightly tensed and green looks many of his most trusted advisors were sporting, he knew that he had to take the alternative route. War, was not the correct solution, even if it was majorly in their favour. 

"No.. I cannot let so many deaths happen on my account. We will not only be attacking Chittorgarh but also their allies. It will be a bloodbath."

Devasena breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to her husband yet again for taking the harder but the right decision. Amarendra Bahubali was probably the best thing that could have happened to this Kingdom. But hard decisions always came with tougher consequences. 

"Then my King, there is no other way than to marry Princess Mrignayani."

Murali, the Prime Minister said in almost perfect synchrony with the eager nods Kattappa and his other courtiers were sporting. Bahubali's face fell and Bhallaladeva groaned quietly, mentally preparing himself to be assaulted with yet another hour of inane arguments which will go nowhere but circle around incessantly like it had been since. 

Here we go again..

"But Mamayya, I can't. I cannot in all good faith, marry the Princess knowing that I will be able to give her nothing in return. Not even a ounce of feeling. And upon that, I cannot disrespect my wife like that. It is wrong."

"My Lord, perhaps you should reconsider your stance. I think, the ministers are right. If we were to avoid this war, maybe... marrying the Eldest Princess is the best decision. And besides, polygamy hasn't been unheard of now, has it?"

Amarendra gaped at his wife as Devasena looked stonily ahead, repressing the violent outburst of grief beneath the landslide of duties she had as a Queen. Everyone looked here and there in uncomfortable shame and slight guilt. None of them had factored in the Queen's dilemma and her feelings in this case. 

Bhallaladeva oddly found himself feeling slightly bad for his sister in law but he was helpless against the King's orders. In these past few years, Devasena was the only one he had had any civilized conversation with... rather, any conversation except his duties, at all. He would have very much liked to wipe out those irritating idiots in battle without letting her get subjected to such a humiliation. And to top that, this would have given him a perfect opportunity to escape from the city and this palace again. 

The walls and hallways of the Vasant Mahal had started to close in on him suffocatingly as the continuous cheerful laughter of his four year old nephew kept resurfacing the ghosts of his traumatic childhood. That same feeling of inadequacy and loneliness had started to claw their rotten roots into him despite his numerous efforts to stay aloof. 

What he required at present was a good bloody, gory, violent fight. Where the cries of the battle elephants and the clash of blades, the painful screams of dying men and the piercing screeches of the scavenger birds would be able to out-sound and overpower the muffled sobs of a heart broken boy from a time long past, effectively. 

Lost in his own musings and tuning out the Royal couple's ensuing argument he almost jumped out of his skin when the Queen Mother's voice called out in the middle, brutally silencing everyone with a single command of hers... as usual. 

"There is an alternative solution and perhaps a better option."

"Please do enlighten us, Rajmata..."

The Prime Minister said sounding nauseatingly slavish as Sivagami turned her brilliant fiery gaze towards her estranged elder son making the latter almost squirm in his seat in nervous apprehension. He didn't like the predatory look his so called mother staring at him with.  

Not one bit. 

"Let the Commander General marry the Princess of Chittorgarh. He is from the Royal family of our Noble House, which will ensure the satisfaction of the Maharana and the King's dilemma will also get resolved."

The Court went deafeningly silent at the aftermath of her words before a burst of hoarse chuckles broke through. Bhallaladeva stood up from his seat, his laugh sounding like a cruel twisted mockery of mirth, stabbing through the air like the jagged edges of a serrated blade. 

"Hail thy wisdom Your Highness! I think you have forgotten that I have been disowned from the Royal family. I no longer wear the medallion of the so called Noble House of Mahishmati."

Everyone winced at the venom in his tone and fidgeted in their seats as Sivagami stared down her firstborn, seemingly unruffled at his expectedly violent outburst. And when she spoke next, her words were so icy, they send chills down everyone's spine for a second.

"Fortunately for Mahishmati, Chittorgarh doesn't know it yet and they do not have to know it, till the wedding is over."

"Mother!"

Amarendra's voice was a mixture of acute disbelief and sharp embarrassment as everyone seemed taken aback by the astounding cruelty in those words. Bhallaladeva looked baffled for some moments as if still trying to figure out his mother's words but he composed himself admirably fast. Then a bitter smirk graced his lips and his eyes bore into Sivagami, almost like a challenge. 

"So, we are going to dupe the Princess? Let her dream about the jackpot and then give her a consolation prize instead? I wonder how that will turn out to be."

"Once the marriage happens, they will have no other choice. The Maharana will not be able to attack knowing his daughter is here, in enemy territory."

Sivagami spoke, now looking through her elder son as the latter's eyebrows touched his forehead and he retorted back caustically. 

"So, blackmail? What an exemplary course of action... what has the great King, to say about this? Shall he command me now? I am the General after all...bound to follow all His Majesty's orders."

He spat bitterly, turning sharply towards his younger brother who had a hand thrown over his face, looking more miserable than he had ever seen him look before. Kattappa was looking unnervingly disturbed, face turned at the other side. The despair on his wizened face was painfully palpable. Devasena was surprisingly staring directly at him, almost daring him to say another word. 

"Brother please..."

Bahubali whispered tiredly as Bhallaladeva kept glaring at Sivagami, but drawled emotionlessly to the former. 

"Say it My King. Give me the command and I shall comply.. slave that I am to the throne."

The tension in the Court was so thick that you could almost cut it with a knife. Devasena gripped her husband's arm tightly with one hand and squeezed it reassuringly, hearing his unsaid plea of support silently. 

"The Commander General and Prince Regent of Mahishmati, Bhallaladeva will get married to Princess Mrignayani of Chittorgarh at the earliest which will help both empires strengthen the bonds of alliance. This is a Royal decree and I hope it will be followed as such."

For the first time probably, the King's voice was deadly severe and his words reverberated throughout the bejewelled court, falling like a crack of thunder splitting clear skies. The Elder Prince looked at his younger brother slightly stunned for a moment but it vanished even before someone could clock the expression correctly. 

A nasty grin took it's place which threatened to morph his handsome features into something truly hideous and Amarendra felt a jolt of deep unease slither down his nape. He didn't like that feeling at all. Neither did he particularly enjoy the strangely sickening yet inexplicable glee on his elder brother's face. 

"There you are...."

Three words spoken with such an eerie quietness, it felt like he had ripped open the lid off a decaying coffin to display the decimated corpse of some secretive loathing Bahubali never realised he had possessed for anyone at all, let alone his own elder brother. Or has this been just a charade played out deliberately to unravel a darker side to him, he didn't know existed?

He felt like he might throw up. 

The General had made a sudden re entry pushing back the Elder Prince from Bhallaladeva's countenance as if he was a mere machine re programmed to work according to the situation and not a living breathing human. He gave Amarendra a stiff bow and a deadbeat response frostily. 

"As His Highness commands. I will see to the arrangements of receiving the Princess. You will get the report by tomorrow morning at the earliest. May I be dismissed?"

Amarendra gestured tiredly with a hand unable to speak out the words and saw Bhallaladeva walk out of the hall, his long wrathful strides making a hilariously short work of few metres distance between the throne and the exit doors. Yet the distance between them felt like lightyears. 

Bahubali flopped down on his thrown, feeling the heavy diamond studded golden crown almost bury his head in, biting back a howl of frustration, just by the nick of his teeth. 

--------------------------------------------------------

Princess Mrignayani was looking awestruck at the lively streets of the Capital city of Mahishmati, peeping through the heavy silk blinds of her palanquin. The markets were abundantly peppered with a million exotic goods, the air heavy with spices and fragrances of a thousand flowers. The people in the shops and on the streets engaged in various activities looked like some of the happiest people she had ever seen. 

The ground was tiled with stones and she could hear the gentle tapping of the hooves of the horses as the royal entourage the King had sent for her at the borders of his empire followed her palanquin and the meagre platoon of bodyguards she had brought along with her from Chittorgarh. 

Radha, her chief handmaiden and the closest to a friend and companion she had ever had was sitting in the same palanquin, opposite her. She had begged and cried and pleaded to be sent with the Princess. Mrignayani was apprehensive of taking her with herself at first, knowing the truth of her dangerous mission but later Radha had convinced her that she will need a friend. 

Radha rolled back up the parchment in her hands and gave her a horrified look. 

"The Commander? How did the Maharana agree to this... this treachery? You were supposed to marry the King! You deserve to be Queen, my Princess... not the wife of a petty nobleman. This is beneath you."

Mrignayani gave her a sharp glare before adjusting the border of her cream gold angavastram across her chest properly and looked out while answering back quietly but not without a hint of annoyance. 

"First of all, the Maharana knows very well about the game Mahishmati has played on us. Secondly, the Commander is the Elder Prince and Prince Regent of the kingdom who has been banished from the Royal family by the Queen Mother. A fact they thought we didn't know but unfortunately for them, we do. And thirdly, my worth is not linked with the position which I hold in Court, Radha."

"I hope you haven't forgotten what they say of the Rajputanis of Chittorgarh. The tigress is a tigress anywhere, irrespective of the jungle they occupy."

Radha looked down chagrined but then looked up at her again, looking slightly pale. 

"I am sorry, Your Highness... but.. the General... Bhallaladeva is... he is...I mean to say that his reputation precedes him. I had heard from the travelling bards when they had returned from the land of the Nagas in the far east. They chattered when they spoke of him. They say he is the Devil incarnate... how will you marry a man like him? A man who has been known, not to be a man at all?"

Mrignayani turned her eyes back on her nervously fidgeting friend and gazed at her for a minute long before giving her perhaps the most painful smile, Radha had ever seen the young Princess portraying. It was tragically mocking and made her look immensely beautiful but in a haunting way. 

"Ever heard of the sacrificial lamb... my friend? The choicest offerings are always offered to the deadliest of the Gods. No one quite asks the poor animal whether it wants to be slaughtered at the sake of their penance or not."

Radha became mournfully silent at the aftermath as the Princess seemed to have gone into a trance, looking straight through her, as if remembering an unpleasant time. 

Mrignayani heard the ear splitting gongs of the humongous gold gilded gates and peered out fully to see the gargantuan domes of the Vasant Mahal become come closer and closer. The guards bowed respectfully, seeing the palanquin pass and she knew all her men had already been checked and frisked over thrice. 

Their security was truly masterful. She had recorded the entry points and the check points from the outer gates till the inner gates of the Palace, meticulously in her brain. She had a photographic memory and she knew she could provide a perfect blue print for the outer level of the Royal Palace and the Capital city of Mahishmati. 

The rest she would figure out soon enough. 

-----------------------------------------------------

"The Elder Princess Of Chittorgarh, Rajkunwari Mrignayani!"

The guards announced making all chatter stop immediately in the Court and Amarendra and Devasena who had been animatedly discussing a pressing issue regarding the increased import duties on one of the major ports of the city looked towards the entrance instantly. 

Bhallaladeva who had been pretending to hear to the mundane court proceedings but was actually mentally mapping the next expedition on which he could go to whipped his head around as the Princess made her way inside the hall, followed by her bodyguards and servants at a few feet distance. 

Everyone seated at the farthest ends of the hall scrambled up to get a glimpse of the maiden who had become notorious in Mahishmati for the past few weeks simply because of the great war, her alliance had resulted in averting. There had been numerous rumours flying around the Capital city about the Princess of Chittorgarh about her origin, her accomplishments and the enigma that she was. 

No one from Mahishmati had ever been to the Rajputana kingdoms before and they had no idea about the people hailing from there so the sudden appearance of a woman from those far away seemingly mystical desert lands had everyone pretty excited about getting to see her for the first time. Was she beautiful like their Queen? Or ugly like a witch? Was she as illustrious as their Royal family or no match for them? 

Who was Princess Mrignayani of Chittorgarh?

The courtiers were disappointed majorly as the Princess had a translucent golden veil covering her entire face which hung till her waist from the front and trailed behind in the mass of swirling expensive beige gold silks of her heavily embroidered skirts. She wore almost no jewellery except a few bangles on each wrist, a slender necklace and anklets from the gentle chimes audible. They could not see her face but her hair which was braided with slender gold chains was visible from the netted veil. 

She walked with an elegance which was giving evidence to her being born in nobility but there was a strange aura around her. She exuded a power like no other, her gait confident, bordering on slight arrogance and her movements measured. Her lithe frame though hidden from everyone's eyes pulsated with an energy almost inflammable. 

She stopped at the centre of the hall and joined her hands and bowed to Bahubali and Devasena as a mark of respect. She had a feline grace not giving even a hint of rigidity. The latter both nodded their heads in acknowledgment and she straightened back to her position. Then she seemed to turn her eyes around the entire hall, invisible from behind the veil but her gaze oddly potent. 

Bhallaladeva had been looking at her almost transfixed, feeling an unnervingly magnetic pull towards the woman who hadn't yet revealed her face properly to him. He attributed these strange feelings to being increasingly frustratedly apprehensive about the entire situation. Mrignayani's wandering eyes seemed to stop at him and he felt his entire body tense up in that instant. 

Then he got stunned as she gave him a similar bow, joining her hands in front like she had done with the King and the Queen. He was completely behoved for a moment, not knowing how to react and ended up returning a stiff bow back to her. She was the Eldest Princess of a different Empire and he was just a General. Did his position demand him to bow or was it something innately default inside his system which forced him to react thus?

But what was her reasoning towards bowing to him? Did she think him to be part of the Royal family too? If that was the case then the poor thing is going to be sorely disappointed. 

The Court looked slightly unsettled as well. 

"Welcome to Mahishmati, Princess Mrignayani. We are very pleased to have you here with us and to be a part of our family."

Amarendra finally spoke and the Princess turned towards him again. 

"The pleasure is all mine Your Majesty. I am glad that we could all come to a better solution and avoid the path of violence. And I am honoured that I was chosen to be a part of your illustrious family."

Bhallaladeva had always found most female voices highly irritating. They were either annoyingly high pitched or cloyingly oversweet. But this voice... it was something else. She had a mysterious strength to that almost melodious lilt. He oddly didn't find this one, particularly unpleasing at all which was a great surprise. 

Devasena stood up at the silent gesture from the King and smiled brightly at Mrignayani. 

"Princess....my dear sister, if you do not mind, would you uplift your veil and let us see your face? I know your tradition calls for it but here in Mahishmati, as you can see.. women in the royal court are very much allowed to be present in their own discretion... without the customary curtain."

Mrignayani hesitated only for a second before lifting her hands to her head and throwing off the gold threaded veil off her face. 

A chorus of stunned gasps rang around the court as everyone stared at her in complete bewilderment. 

Bhallaladeva for the first time in his life, found his heart literally come to a freezing halt for a second and his brain staggered to piece together a coherent thought. When he had looked at Devasena's painting he had found her immensely attractive and even after her marriage to his brother and his own lack of any intimate feelings for her, he still thought she was perhaps the most beautiful woman in the world. 

How wrong had he been...